Apple to announce 'Baidu' as iOS search engine in China next week

For a time now, Apple has been planning to integrate Baidu as its search engine in iOS. Bloomberg reported today that this new feature could be announced next week.

"Apple Inc. (AAPL) plans to add Baidu Inc. (BIDU)’s search engine on iPhones in China, part of a push to broaden its services and user base in the world’s most-populous nation, according to two people with knowledge of the matter…The agreement to add Baidu, China’s largest search engine, to the lineup of Web tools on the iPhone could be announced as early as next week, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private."

Bloomberg noted that Baidu is currently capturing roughly 80 percent of the search business in China. Apple will offer the country's most popular desktop search engine to Chinese iPhone users, but many are quick to point to the company's declining reliance on Google technologies and services in iOS.

Although Baidu was rumoured to replace Google as the default search engine on iOS devices in China, Bloomberg's sources said Google Search will probably remain the default even after adding Baidu as an option.